And the generations of missionaries: Elder Casagrande, me, and Elder Taveira.

Week 65: Well, here goes 5 more weeks in Jaraguá!

Hey everybody!

Thats right, I already have the transfer calls, and...Im staying here with Elder Marciano! Actually, everybody in our house is staying the same, but weve also got a bunch of missionaries coming to our zone, shutting down one area and opening three. So, all in all, this could be a crazy 5 weeks. But, yeah, here are some things about our top investigators:

Lucas: Still perfect. He has accepted to live all of the commandments that weve taught him (we just have one more that he needs to know), and he is loving our visits. We have a goal to baptize him this weekend, and we really think that its possible. He even had a dream that his (recently deceased) mom was encouraging him to join the church, so that was awesome!! He is an incredible person, and Im excited to baptize him.

Daniela: Basically a member of the ward. Shes showing no problems right now, and is already integrated with the Young Women. Now, we wait until the freaking 23rd, just so that João Vitor can baptize here. But, Ill be here, so thats good.

Ronni: Still avoiding us. Punk.

Veronica, Ruan: FINALLY went to church this week, and they loved it. For the time being, theyre gonna start going every Sunday, and although Veronica cant be baptized yet because her husband doesnt wanna get married, were gonna try and get Ruan baptized.

Matteus: I know, you havent heard from him in a while. Hes been going to church every Sunday, but its been the same story with baptism, where hes not understanding a whole lot of why he needs to be baptized. But, the Bishop finally decided to talk to him, and as we know, the Bishop here does miracles, and so well see what happens.

Other notes:

Sorry that I dont have a voice recording again this week. This computer reads my camera, but for some dumb reason doesnt read my computer. So thats stupid, and I dont like it.

We had a homeless drunk lady come into church this week, after the meetings. We asked her if she needed anything, to which she said no. She then stood up, and thats when we realized that her pants and underwear were at her knees. She then sat down at another bench for 10 seconds, then left, letting every man, woman and child see her bare bottom. So that was weird.

But yeah, thats my week! Ill send some pics now! Love you all!

Elder Youd

We all got shirts from a part of the São Paulo government. So we are wearing the shirts. And mustaches. One more transfer.

Week 64: The Celebrity Americans

Hey everybody!!!

So, its been an alright week for me here in Jaraguá. Filled with ups, downs, in betweens, and a whole lot of craziness, it was a week that honestly freaking flew by. But, Ill give some deets here now. Top investigators!!

Gabriel- So, I talked to Elder Marciano about it, and we decided that Gabriel needs a little bit more time before he gets baptized, and for two reasons. Firstly, hes progressing really well and seems to be taking things in, step by step. And also, and much more importantly, he has an awesome friend named Alex that we can baptize at the same time, and the two can help each other stay firm. So, Gabriel is good, but we just want to work with him more and get a second baptism in the process. Well see what happens.

Ronni- The dirty pervert hid from us this week. We tried to get in touch with him every day, but he just hides from us. But, like a hunter with his prey, I will find him, shoot him, and then claim my dead animal prize. Or, Ill just find him and baptize him, because thats more Christlike. One of the two.

Lucas- Progressing SUPER well. He went to church alone this Sunday, arriving half an hour early. Hes reading and praying and doing everything that were asking him. So well see what happens with him. We just need to teach him the commandments, and then we'll have him ready to be baptized, hopefully soon!!

Evandro/Diani (new!)- A "married" couple that we found, that want our help. They want to get married, find a church, and help Evandro stop drinking. (Hes not an alcoholic; he just drinks every once in a while, and hes super weak with drinks. Like, he drank one can one night, and was blubbering.) So it shouldnt be too difficult with them. They werent able to make it to church this week, but well see what happens with them.

Other notes:

We had a super cool moment this week. Seeing that our zone didnt have any baptisms planned for the weekend, me and Elder Marciano decided to challenge the missionaries in our zone to try and visit the people that had been interviewed, passed, but just werent baptized. The zone did it, and the missionaries of Jaraguá 2 (Elder Marques, Elder Bustamante, who live with us) were able to baptize one of their investigators by a miracle this weekend! It was pretty awesome, and I took a picture with the woman as well. Ill send it here in a bit.

As the voice message (hopefully) will tell (if it is able to send, freaking LAN Houses here), me and Elder Jacobs went to a private school with a member this week, and talked to little kids about speaking English/being an American. It helped my deep-rooted patriotism grow (little kids thinking that I know famous people because Im American), and a lot of them ended up taking pictures with us! So that was quite a funny experience.

Alright, time to respond to individual emails and try and send some stuff! Hopefully it works! Love you all!

Elder Youd

Family Nights in Brazil!

Pictures from 2 family nights that we did. The one where my eyes are giant was super fun. And irmã Ruzanna made fun of me a lot for the big eyes.

And More Pics...

A view from the top of the Banespa, the tallest building in São Paulo.

And these two kids heard that I had never tried coconut water before, so they bought it. The cool thing was, the seller cuts the coconut open, and you drink from inside it. It was cool, and I took a pic with the two kids. And the coconut.

More Pictures

 The Sao Paulo Temple

Me with my friend Patrick, right before he went to his mission in Recife. 

Week 63: Sometimes you just cant win

Hey everybody!!

So, as the title reads, it was one of those weeks this week. At this point in my mission, I know that these types of weeks happen every once in a while (I cant JUST have miracles happen here, gosh!) But, weve still got some good things going for us!! Heres some basic information about our top investigators:

Daniela- We were ridiculously close to baptizing her this week. We had taken away all of her doubts and fears, and the last question was who would baptize her. She decided that she wanted her friend, João Vitor, to baptize her. The only problem is, João Vitor wont be able to baptize until he is 16 years old, which he doesnt become until the end of November. We worked hard with her during the lesson and finally had convinced her to let another member of the ward baptize her...until João Vitors brother, Matteus, entered into the freaking room and asked, "Wait, didnt you want Joao to baptize you?" "Yeah, but I think itd be better if this other person baptized me this weekend." "Wait...Elders, cant she wait a month longer? I dont think thatd be too bad." And she heard that, and it was over. So, us and the Bishop are gonna try and work with her to be baptized sooner (many times, when you wait a long time to baptize somebody, they end up not getting baptized at all here. Its a different culture, but its a much faster-moving culture.)

Ronni-Its gonna be luck with this guy. We did a family night with Ronni and a couple other people at the church on Monday about Family History, and in the middle of the lesson, Ronni starts asking us, "Elders, can I be baptized in a river? I heard from my neighbor that it says in the Bible that a true baptism has to be by running waters." We simply told him that, although Jesus was baptized in a river, we arent required to be baptized by running waters because there really isnt a purpose to it (you need to have the age of conscience to know what youre doing, waters to immerse you because this is literally what baptism means, and authority from God to make this covenant, but running waters dont serve a real purpose.) We said that he could be baptized in a river if he REALLY wanted to (All of the rivers here are trashy), but that we have this baptismal font for this reason. He then became SUPER angry with us, saying that we were condemning souls because of this, that well have to answer before God for this giant sin that were committing. So, we burned him a bit and then left, not knowing what to do. But, a few days later, we went back, and avoiding the subject of running waters, asked him if he was good with baptism. He said, "Yeah, Im super excited to be baptized this next weekend!" So, either we will baptize him, or he will burn the church down. I dunno.

Gabriel- Went to church for the second time. We didnt get to teach him this week, but hes actually progressing, so well see what happens.

Elias (new!)- An older man that we found this week. We were knocking on doors, and he saw us knocking and called us down to talk to him. We taught him, and he was incredibly interested. He went to church this week, and said that he wants to come every Sunday. We just need to get him married (he already talked about how he wanted to get married before baptized,) And then well get him baptized!!

Other ntoes:

We also brought a drunk couple to church this week. The woman had hurt her knee, and was trying to sit down, so we helped her, talked to them (or at least tried, they were very drunk,) and then brought them into church. So that was fun.

And I went to 25 de Março again! We went to the same Churrascaria, and I bought some ties, a fancy watch, and a new towel! So that was fun. Ill try to send pics here.

Alright, thats my week! Thank you all! Love you!

Elder Youd

PS-Ill try to send pics and a voice recording!!